‘Dragonball Evolution’s live-action Goku says goodbye to Toriyama: “Sorry we messed up”

Justin Chatwin, the actor who played Goku in the 2009 live-action movie adaptation, ‘Dragonball Evolution’, has shared his regret on social networks after the sad news of the passing of Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and many more famous and influential anime and manga. The interpreter took advantage of the occasion to apologize (once again) for his performance as Goku in said film, highly criticized by critics and fans for its poor quality.

A fan’s regret

Despite the overwhelming success of the famous manga and anime franchise around the world, the brand created by Toriyama also has one of the worst live action adaptations in history; the film has 14% on Rotten Tomatoes. And for its leading actor, it is still a cross that he must deal with, despite having asked for forgiveness on numerous occasions. And he did it again while saying goodbye to Akira Toriyama:

“Rest in peace brother. And sorry we messed up that adaptation so badly,” wrote Justin Chatwin on his Instagram account along with an image of Goku and another with the news of the mangaka’s death. ‘Dragonball Evolution’ was harshly criticized, with a story that barely rescued anything from the original work, a high school student Goku, a ridiculous Mutenroshi and a Piccolo who looked like a bad cosplay, in addition to having more than questionable visual effects.

Justin Chatwin himself has always been a declared fan of Goku and his adventures, although his performance as Goku was ultimately forgettable. Even Akira Toriyama at the time stated that said film “Didn’t even deserve to be called ‘Dragon Ball’”, with producers who refused to listen to the mangaka’s advice to make a film more faithful to the original manga.